


The Board Game Club

by ZipZoom



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Afterschool Club, F/F, Highschool AU, Rose is sad and wants be loved, Vriska is also sad and wants to be loved, but in a more angry way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-01-06 01:41:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21218459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZipZoom/pseuds/ZipZoom
Summary: A fanfiction based off of a roleplay I did almost a year ago.Rose Lalonde has been forced into an ultimatum, which results in her joining a scrappy little club titled "The Board Games Club." However, there aren't any board games in this club, as it's actually just a after school hangout spot for Vriska Serket, the school bully. The two are forced to spend time with each other, and through this, a bond begins to form.





	1. The Sham After Sixth Period

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my first sorta serious fanfiction, so I hope ya'll like it!

School had just ended, and the hallways were deserted. Rose Lalonde stepped into the fluorescent light, keeping her eyes glued to the small note wrinkled in her hand. It was unsettling, the silence which surrounded her. What had once held a stampede of kids, now remained a graveyard, save for a few teachers finishing up their work. Rose longed to join her peers out in the sunshine, far away from the prison that was Jacques H. Crocker High, but sadly there were consequences for her actions (or lack of actions, in this particular case) which resulted in having to forcibly join an afterschool club.

The idea revolted her at first. Having to spend her precious alone time in a stuffy room with people she didn’t like doing something she didn’t care about? It didn’t sound like something she was into. However, with coaxing from her dear mother, along with her desperate pleas to find a friend (friends, she had those! They were just… In other towns) had persuaded her to join a club which seemed the least bit interesting. 

Board Games Club. It was at the bottom of the list of afterschool activities, and seemed to be the most disorderly. There was no flyer, there had been no announcement for it, it seemed to have simply sneaked onto the list of clubs without a single person noticing. Perhaps it’s the vagueness which reeled her in. There were many, many types of board games, and the mystery around which ones were on display was too appealing to pass up. Or maybe it was the fact that the teacher who normally ran the club was often missing from the meets, allowing the participants to do whatever they pleased. 

Whatever it was, it lead Rose to room 108. Quietly, she peered in, the robotics lab which was held inside looked like a workshop for new tourture techniques, with pins, drills, and random wires laid out lazily on workbenches. She took a step in, holding her breath. There was one other person in the room, though she couldn’t tell who it was. 

“Hello?” Her voice acted against her will, alerting the stranger of her presence. 

Slowly, they turned, and Rose could see their horribly applied blue lipstick.

Vriska Serket.

Now, Rose had never spoken to Vriska herself, nor was she one to believe rumors, but the things people said about her made all three of the Plastics hang their heads in shame. There had been countless people she fought, rumors that she started, lives that she ruined. It almost felt wrong to simple stand in her presence. No, Rose should have been bowing, or trembling in fear.

There was a two minute silence. Vriska took her time looking Rose up and down, and Rose took her time wishing that she was a fly on the wall, or simply a breath of air. It was Vriska who broke the deafening quiet, with a slight grumble and an angry hiss.

“Why did you come here?” It was a question, but it felt like a threat. Rose found herself questioning the logic behind her arrival, taking a moment to get back onto her groove. 

“Board Games Club.” She said, nonchalantly. It was the casualty in her voice which took both girls by surprise. 

“I hope you weren’t looking for actual board games. That isn’t what we do here.”

Rose questioned the ‘we’ under her breath, but kept her mouth shut. 

“It’s a sham, an excuse to not go home.” Vriska explained, though she didn’t need to. The intent was as clear as the lamination on each poster. There wasn’t a single boardgame on the table. Not even a deck of cards.

“So what do we do then?” Asked Rose, finding herself growing more uncomfortable as she stood.

“Sit, go on your phone, do homework. I don’t fucking care.” And with that, Vriska turned her head back to her phone, ending the conversation. 

Rose found herself a seat at the other end of the table, and began to pick at her nails. Surely there was work to be done, but it didn’t feel like the right time to do it. Even the simple sound of pencil on paper was playing with more fire than Rose felt comfortable with. And so, the two sat in silence. Until, a particular song began to play, cracking the dome the both of them had created around themselves, and forcing their attention to Rose’s beat up LLbean backpack. 

David Bryne’s cry to the empty classroom for someone, anyone, to take him to the river. “Sorry, it’s my phone.” Rose muttered, clumsily taking it out of the bag. For some reason, it felt like her fingers were sticks of butter, unable to clasp onto one thing without it slipping out. It was the sweat, something she hadn’t noticed until it stood between her and ending David Bryne’s beautiful rendition of Al Green’s Take Me to the River.

The call was from her mother, something she could not decline. “Pardon me.” Rose coughed, standing and making herself an imaginary phone booth in the corner of the room. Vriska rolled her eyes and said something that Rose could not make out. So it was obvious that she was pardoned. 

“Hello, hello?” Madam Lalonde’s voice yelled through the speaker. “Rosie, you there?”

“Yes mother, I am here.” Her voice was downcast, with a hint of annoyance. “I’m at that after school club. I told you about it, remember?” 

“Oh! Yeah. You makin’ any friends, sweetie?” There was an obnoxious shrill to her voice which Rose found herself getting more and more annoyed with as the years go on. Of course, to any normal person, Madam Lalonde sounded like any kind New Yorker, this frequency which Rose picked up on was only achievable after a lifelong dedication to picking apart everything she hated about the woman on the other end of the phone. 

“Yes, I made a friend.” Friend. Singular. A simple get around the question.

“Gosh! Why don’t you invite them over for dinner then?” There was an immeasurable amount of excitement coming from Mama Lalonde’s end of the phone. 

“I don’t know. I bet she has her own plans tonight, and I don’t want to intrude,” 

“Nonsense! Just ask!” Though she couldn’t see her, Rose could feel her mother’s puppy dog eyes burning into the back of her head. 

“Hey, Vriska.” Rose asked, turning her head to find that her club mate had been staring at her this entire time. “My mom would like to know if you’d want to come over for dinner.”

There was a pause, and then a small whisper from the phone that Vriska could not hear. 

“She says that she’s making garlic chicken and rice.” Rose continued, trying to sell it with a smile. 

There was a pause, and for a moment Rose swore she could hear not only her heartbeat, but the heartbeat of Vriska too. “Yeah.” Said Vriska, pulling up her hair into a ponytail. “Sounds good.”

Unbeknownst to Rose, Vriska had not had a home cooked meal since sixth grade. Her mother was busy, always busy, and always mean. It seemed like a waste of effort and money to snack on anything other than ramen and chips. And even when it came to the home cooked meals of her childhood, they were never at her own house, but a friend’s. Kanaya Maryam, she hadn’t spoken to her in years at this point, but it was at her house the most healthy and warm meals Vriska had ever eaten were made. 

Rose had no idea what to do with her answer. Madam Lalonde was celebrating on the other side, but Rose herself was in a state of shock. “Alright, sounds good. We’ll be right there.” The words that spilled out of her mouth had been rehearsed, but never spoken seriously. She ended the phone call with a dumbfounded look glued onto her face.

“What’s with the face?” Vriska teased, standing up and sneering. “You look like a tarsier hopped up on meth, um,” 

“Rose Lalonde.” She answered, filling in her name for the insult.

“Lalonde. How come I’ve never heard of you?” Vriska asked, walking closer.

“Not much of a stand out person, I guess.” Rose gave a shrug, knowing that the answer was unsatisfactory. 

“Well, Rose Lalonde, I guess we should get going. We wouldn’t want dinner to get cold, now would we?” She asked, a smirk growing across her face.

Rose nodded, feeling like she was walking straight into a lion’s den.


	2. ABBA Is What Brings Us Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vriska and Rose get in the car. Car shenanigans occur.

The car that Vriska had brought to school stood proudly in the parking lot, dusted lightly by the gentle falling snow and frost that the winter months usually brought. It was in great need of a paint job, as the once dark blue had faded into a sky sort of color, with the small chips and dents becoming clouds. Rose walked towards it, curiosity peeked at the sight of such a grand thing. "Do you...have a car of your own?" Asked Vriska, her sudden presence making Rose jump out of her skin. "If you do, I'll just follow you to your house." Her plan would be great, so much better if it was actually achievable.

"I don't have a car." Rose said, embarrassment stinging her cheeks. She didn't have a car, nor did she have a license, which was a pathetic display of immaturity at her age. "I hope you don't mind me hitching a ride." With her face flushed, Rose turned her eyes to the ground. She didn't want to face the ridicule that Vriska was going to undoubtedly spit at her.

"Alright." Said Vriska, subverting all of Rose's expectations with a simple word. "Your chariot awaits, m'lady." She gave a small bow as she unlocked the car door, giving a sense of mock formality. Rose was fine with this. She took a deep breath, and was fine with it. 

The inside of the car was odd. The leather seats had etchings in them, odd signs of previous disputes only solvable through the destruction of one's property. The ash tray stuffed in the cup holder had seen better days, filled with the thick dust of cheap cigarettes. Rose made a face at the tray. Weren't most kids juuling these days? It certainly wasn't healthier, but it left less residue than cancer sticks. Old cups and bags littered the floor of the car, as well as other trash, giving off a distinct smell. 

"It's messy, I know." Vriska snapped, as if anticipating Rose's judgement. She shoved the key into the ignition, turning it with a slight grunt. The trunk instantly roared to life, giving a small shutter and a blast of hot air towards the two passengers. Music also began to play, from the dinky radio. It was a station that Rose was unfamiliar with, playing a song that she was also unfamiliar with. "Chiquitita, tell me what's wrong," Vriska muttered under her breath to the song, matching the lyrics perfectly. With only those first few words, Rose was under a spell, holding her breath as she watched Vriska stumble her way through the first verse. "You're enchained by your own sorrow, in your eyes there is no hope for tomorrow." She continued, her voice growing more confident steadily. By the time she had reached the verse, she was fulling singing now, the melody matching perfectly with her raspy and crude way of singing. Rose could swear that in that moment, the world had shrunk to the size of the truck, and the population of the planet melted down to a measly two. Everything seemed perfect, until the dastardly ring of a text message notification ruined it. In a fit of shock, Vriska slammed on the breaks, and glared at Rose, who found herself in a state of disarray as she fiddled for her phone. There was one text message on the screen, which read, 

TG: yeah well the difference between obama and heraclitus is that heraclitus is a lame ass nerd  
TG: all im saying is if it came down to a deathmatch, obama would kick that greek yogurt ass like it was olives on a fucking tree   
TT: Heraclitus was of Turkish origin.  
TT: Though that isn't what I responded to you to say. I am hanging out with someone right now, and your sudden interruption completely ruined the mood.  
TG: oh shit, rose "romance is all just chemicals" lalonde finally scored? how's the date going? did you psychoanalyse the way that he eats his salad yet?  
TT: It is most certainly not a date. I am firm in my beliefs, and I am not about to let any dashing stranger seduce me into becoming a romcom loving dopamine junkie.  
TT: And also, this person whom I "scored" is a girl.   
TG: oh fuck  
TG: in the words of the great weezer "i'm dumb she's a lesbian"  


Just as Rose was about her rebuttal to Strider's claim, a cough from the driver's direction distracted her. "You never told me where you live. I've been driving around town for the past five minutes, hoping that you'd point out to me that I'm going in the wrong direction. However, I guess you're too much of a dumbass to pick up on things like that, so I'll ask you niiiiiiiice and slowly. Where do you live, Lalonde?" There was mockery in her voice, as Rose began to flush once more.

"I was too wrapped up in your performance to watch where we were going. It's not every day one gets to see ABBA live." She sticks back. Vriska's face grew extremely red, as her grip on the wheel grew tighter. "Also, I live on Morgan street. It's a bit hard to miss, just look for the house with a giant gaudy wizard statue in the front yard." She instructed, feeling a bit bad for Vriska's emotions. 

"Morgan street, huh? Alright. Let's fucking do this, I guess!!!!!!!!"

"By the way," Rose began, clearing out her throat. "I genuinely like your singing voice. You should sing more often."

"I don't need your pity." Vriska growled from behind the wheel. "Shut up."

And so Rose did, feeling her stomach sink with her heart.


End file.
